Katherine von Drachenberg also known as Kat Von D is a well-known professional Mexican-American tattoo artist and also a television personality, entrepreneur, and recording artist. Kat came into prominence when she appeared as a tattoo artist on the TLC reality television show LA Ink, which premiered in the United States on August 7, 2007.

The show became a big hit and went on for more than four seasons. She was also the former head of the Kat Von D Beauty and was later rechristened as KVD Vegan Beauty. She also released her first single “Exorcism” from her album Love Made Me Do It in May 2021.

Katherine von Drachenberg was born on March 8, 1982, in Montemorelos, Nuevo León, Mexico to René and Sylvia. Her parents served as missionaries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Her parents were born in Argentina and were of mixed origin. She has one sister and one brother. Her family later immigrated to Inland Empire when she was four years old and resided

Von D got inspiration for music from her grandmother and she credits the culture of San Bernardino County as a major influence on her tattoo art and style. At the tender age of 12, she started listening to rock bands including Ramones and Misfits. She got her first tattoo when she was 14 before quitting school at 16 and becoming a fully-fledged tattoo artist.

Her childhood was marred by abuse when she was sent to the Provo Canyon School for six months when she was 15. It was the same school where Paris Hilton studied and she also reported to have faced child abuse.

Kat Von D’s Outstanding Career As A Tattoo Artist

Her first exposure to glamor came when she appeared for two seasons of Miami Ink, the reality TV show taped at 305 Ink in Miami for the cable network TLC. She was a replacement for tattoo artist Darren Brass who broke his elbow and thus was unable to do tattooing. She eventually left the show after an altercation with Ami James.

Von D started her own TLC series, LA Ink which detailed her tattoo work at her tattoo shop, High Voltage Tattoo, in Hollywood, California. She also set a new Guinness World Record of most tattoos created by a single person in a day, with a total of 400. In 2007 Von D designed a logo for the city of Los Angeles and the proceeds of the event went for the childhood charity Vitamin Angels.

LA Ink ran for an incredible four seasons before TLC brought curtains to the show on August 18, 2011. Von D said that the end of the show was because of her unwillingness to continue with the show.

Her artworks and tattoos were chronicled in a book named High Voltage Tattoo, which was released in January 2009 and contained a foreword Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx. The book went on to become a bestseller and reached number 6 on the The New York Times Best Seller list. Von D negated the view that the book was an autobiography since she was very young for this. Instead the book according to Von D was a picture-driven outline of her career as an artist. It contained everything from the tattoos she created when she was six to some tattoos which she created for the first time and never seen before.

The first book was followed by a second book titled The Tattoo Chronicles. It was a illustrated diary of the happening of the past one year in her life and was released on October 26, 2010, and reached #3 on The New York Times “Hardcover Advice & Misc.” best-seller list.

Von D entered the manufacturing arena when she launched her makeup line up for Sephora . Every year she introduced new collections and also augmented her fragrance lineup. She also was heavily involved in philanthropic efforts and in 2012 through Sephora she held her New American Beauty Art Tour and the proceeds went for the benefit of the Art of Elysium charitable organization.

In June 2016 , she changed all the product line up into vegan and brought a process of reformulation to effect this change. In August 2016 she launched a limited edition lipstick named Project Chimps and 20% of the proceeds went to the benefit of care for retired Chimpanzees.  

Her lipstick named “Selektion,” got her into controversy since the word in native German was a slang used to describe Nazis. The controversy forced the name of the lipstick to be changed into “Beloved”. Von D is also credited with the creation of MusInk Tattoo Convention and Music Festival and was started in 2008.

Kat Von D Gets Baptized, Converts To Christianity

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Von D recently shared a video which depicted her recent baptisms when she embraced the Christian faith. The Instagram video soon became viral and it depicts Von D enjoying the baptism church service. The pastor who baptized Von D, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, welcomed her to the Christian faith.

How Much is Kat Von D Net Worth In 2023?

Von D as per sources is believed to have a net worth of $ 30 million and an annual salary of $1,000,000. Her source of income is mainly as a tattoo artist, her musical endeavors, media appearances and entrepreneurial ventures.

Also Read: Jodie Turner-Smith Net Worth 2023: Here’s How Much British Actress and Model Worth

Kat Von D Married Life

Von D was first married to fellow tattoo artist Oliver Peck in 2003 but they separated in 2007 and a year later they were officially divorced. After a series of affairs Von D married artist Rafael Reyes on February 21, 2018 and in November 2018, she gave birth to their son, Leafar Von D Reyes.

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